Ali dismisses Norton’s ‘no election’ threat

Last Updated on Saturday, 6 August 2022, 23:34 by Denis Chabrol

President Irfaan Ali.   Mr. Aubrey Norton.

President Irfaan Ali on Saturday dismissed Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton’s threats that everything would be done to block the holding of general ands regional elections with a list that his coalition regards as padded with the names of deceased persons and migrants.

“The list is no the problem. His integrity is the problem. His inability to recognise democracy and his inability to abide by the rule of law and his inability to respect the will of the people is the problem and he needs to fix it,” he said.

He told reporters in Buxton, East Coast Demerara that the same national register of registrants had been used to generate the voters list in 2011 when a minority People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) administration had been elected and then defeated in 2015. “Apparently, this is only a problem when you don’t win an election,” Dr Ali said.

The Opposition Leader last week cautioned that everything would be done to stop an election from being held if the voters list was not cleansed.

Mr Norton’s People’s National Congress Reform-led coalition of A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance For Change has accused the PPPC of getting persons to vote in the names of deceased and migrated persons.

The PPPC has often dismissed that accusation, saying there were sufficient safeguards to prevent substitute voting.